


Silent Battles

by comic_history_magic_nerd



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Camelot, Fluff and Angst, Jealous Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), M/M, Magic, Magic Revealed, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Oblivious Merlin (Merlin), Pining Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Pining Merlin (Merlin), Post-Magic Reveal, Truth Serum, Truth Spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:20:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25848691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comic_history_magic_nerd/pseuds/comic_history_magic_nerd
Summary: After Arthur is attacked by sorceress, Merlin is the only one who thinks Arthur might be enchanted. Why won't anyone else realize how strange the prince is acting? And why does everyone keep laughing when Merlin tells them that Arthur is being weirdly nice?Or: Prince Arthur is hit with a very selective truth spell, that only makes him want to be honest with the person he cares for most. Merlin can't figure out why Arthur is only acting weird around him, and secret spilling ensues.
Relationships: Freya & Merlin (Merlin), Freya/Merlin (Merlin), Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 1113





	Silent Battles

**Author's Note:**

> I really tried to do a better job of planning the story out with this fic, but once I started writing it went in a slightly different direction.
> 
> Basically I wanted this to be kind of goofy and fun but instead I am presenting you with a giant pile of angst... again.

Merlin had been on edge for days. Camelot was quiet for the last few weeks, and the servant was convinced something bad was going to happen soon.

He tried to hide his anxieties from Arthur, knowing the prince had enough on his plate, but Arthur wasn’t always as oblivious as he seemed. He’d picked up on Merlin’s dark circles and tense shoulders right away, and after two days of torturing Merlin into telling him what was wrong, the warlock finally broke this morning.

Arthur’s response, of course, was to poke fun at him all day. 

By the time dinner was finished, Merlin was tired of being called a nervous-nelly and a mother-hen. He took his time that night, slowly making his way to Arthur’s chambers to help the prince get ready for bed.

When he arrived, the guards normally stationed there were nowhere to be found. Merlin braced himself and carefully opened the door.

“I’ve been watching you for weeks! You are a coward, Arthur Pendragon!” Merlin recognized the voice, and the girl it came from. She was a young noblewoman who had been visiting court. The knights had mentioned her, they assumed she had a crush on Arthur because of the way she’d been watching him, and had joked about it at training.

“We are tired of waiting for The Once and Future King! You have forced my hand! You hold your tongue and your loyal followers suffer. You must be brave Pendragon, speak your mind!” 

Merlin rushed into the room to stop her as she mumbled an enchantment under her breath, but he was too late. Arthur flung across the room and hit his head on the stone wall. 

“No!” Merlin screamed, running to his prince’s side. “What have you done? What did you do to him?” 

His voice was rough and deep, he could feel his magic ready to bubble over, to lash out in anger and fear. 

“We are tired, Emrys. I have not hurt him, I’ve only tried to push him toward his destiny.” The woman was eerily calm, so sure that she was doing the right thing. 

Merlin studied her face, it looked so different than it had when he saw her around the castle. Prominent dark circles hung heavy under her eyes, her lips were pulled tight in anger. His heart ached as he saw her pain written clearly across her face. Who had she lost to Uther’s madness?

“This isn’t the way. He needs to find the truth on his own. He needs the chance to decide for himself!” Merlin urged her to see reason.

“We are tired, Emrys. We cannot wait much longer. The curse will lift when he is true to his heart.” Before Merlin could ask what enchantment she had used on him, or what “true to his heart” meant, she was out the door.

Merlin couldn’t bring himself to call for the guards right away. He checked Arthur’s body for wounds, noting the small bump on the back of his head, and let himself bask in the prince’s steady breath and heartbeat for a moment before finally screaming for help.

Arthur woke up not long after that. He insisted he was perfectly fine, but let Gaius look him over anyway. The king paced in the corner of Arthur’s bed chambers, refusing to relax until Gaius declared he could find no sign of serious injury, illness, or enchantment. 

Merlin played the part of dutiful manservant and physician’s assistant, answering any questions and carefully following Arthur’s lead. He had told everyone that he heard shouting from Arthur’s chambers and when he opened the door the noblewoman was standing there, and Arthur was flying back into the wall. Then, the woman vanished and Merlin called for the guards.

“I don’t understand, what did the sorcerer want from you? She’s been at court for weeks and now suddenly she attacked?” Uther was just as confused as the rest of them.

“I don’t know, Father. She just called me a coward and flung me back.” Arthur was not being entirely truthful either, but Merlin couldn’t tell if it was out of exhaustion or because he was hiding something. 

It was late by the time everyone left the room. Gaius had ordered Merlin to tell him if the prince started acting strange, and Uther had seemed certain that whatever she had tried to accomplish didn’t work. 

Merlin began preparing Arthur’s bed clothes while he set his mind to piecing together theories of what the woman might have done to Arthur.

“Merlin.” Arthur spoke softly, calling his servant’s attention. “I’m truly fine.”

Arthur was seated at the table, but after Merlin’s eyes landed on him, he stood and began walking towards him.

“Whatever she was trying to do to me, I don’t think it worked.” Merlin was studying the prince's exhausted features, completely lost in the littles creases next to his eyes, when Arthur’s hand came to rest on Merlin’s shoulder. “I can  _ feel _ you worrying. I’m fine, I swear.”

Arthur gave Merlin’s shoulder one last squeeze before taking his sleep clothes out of Merlin’s hands and going behind the privacy screen to change. 

“If you’re fine then why did you lie to your father about what she said to you?” Merlin was cringing before the words finished leaving his mouth. He shouldn’t have said anything. He should have made a joke about how he told him something bad would happen. 

Arthur appeared from behind the screen in just his trousers, no shirt, with a smile on his face that Merlin had never seen before. 

“You caught that did you?” Arthur laughed and leaned against the wall glancing upwards, considering his answer. “I didn’t want my father to worry, or start some wild witch hunt. I would hate for innocent people to be burned at my expense.”

“She wasn’t innocent, she attacked you.” Merlin was breathless, eyes trained on Arthur’s chest. Something in the air felt off. This wasn’t how their conversations usually go. Why wasn’t Arthur brushing him off, telling him to shut up or throwing something at him?

“I know but it never stops there, does it? When it comes to magic, my father tends to push things a little too far.” That was new. Arthur never admitted that his father was mad when it came to magic. “Besides, the woman didn’t seem like she wanted me dead. What she told me was actually– well, it wasn’t completely wrong. Her approach was just a bit misguided.”

“Okay, well now I know you’ve been enchanted.” Merlin tried to hide his worry with his usual insults. Bring them back to a sense of normalcy through comfortable banter. “The Arthur I know would never admit someone was right for criticizing him.”

But Arthur didn’t laugh and answer back like usual. He shuffled forward, stopping only a breath away from Merlin, and reached out to run his fingers down Merlin’s arm, taking his hand in his.

“Merlin, there is a lot that you don’t know about me.” He ran his thumb over Merlin’s knuckles before dropping his hand and reaching for his sleep shirt to throw on.

“You can head out whenever, Merlin. Thank you for your help tonight.”

Merlin could only nod, letting his feet carry him out the door and all the way back to Gaius’ chambers. His mind completely blank.

“That was quick, how is Arthur doing?” Gaius asked without glancing up from the potion he was mixing.

When Merlin didn’t answer, or move, Gaius looked up to see the dark haired boy standing with his back to the doorway, eye’s blown wide, and his mouth gaping open.

“Merlin? Are you alright?” Gaius walked over and started waving his hands in Merlin’s face.

“Um– Yeah, I’m– uh– Something is wrong with Arthur.” He finally got out. 

This was the curse. Arthur was cursed. He had to be.

“What is it, my boy? What did he do?” Gaius’ concern was genuine, he was ready to spring into action if need be.

“He thanked me.” 

“What?” Confusion replaced concern as one of Gaius’ eyebrows rose higher on his forehead.

“He was being weirdly… nice? And then he was shirtless... and then he held my hand.. and then he thanked me.”

“Right, well the prince had a rough night, I’m sure he’ll return to normal tomorrow.” Gaius rolled his eyes and went back to work.

“So, you don’t think it was an enchantment?”

“Him thanking you?”

“Yes! He’s a royal prat! He never thanks me!”

“Merlin, I’m sure everything will be fine, just get some sleep.”

~

Everything was not fine. No matter what Gaius said, or insisted, or promised, everything was  _ not _ fine. 

The next morning, Merlin woke with the sun, as usual, to get Arthur his breakfast. Merlin set the food down and then went over to the windows to let in the sun and scream some annoying platitude,  _ as usual _ . But Arthur’s response was  _ not _ usual.

Sure, the prince groaned and yelled at the sun in his eyes, he told Merlin to shut up when he shouted, and he even threw a pillow when Merlin ripped the blankets off him. But when Arthur finally sat down for breakfast, he did something wildly out of character.

“Thank you, Merlin. This is perfect.”

Merlin stopped making the bed and froze.

“What was that, sire?”

“I said thank you, you idiot. This breakfast is wonderful.” Arthur repeated around the mouthful of eggs he had shoved into his face.

Merlin cleared his throat and wandered back over to Arthur.

“Sire, are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, of course, why wouldn’t I be?” His eyes met Merlin’s.

“You were potentially enchanted and thrown into a wall last night? And I don’t mean to read into things, but you’ve thanked me twice since it happened and I’m starting to get worried.”

Arthur just laughed. He threw his head back and laughed.

“Honestly, Merlin I feel fine. Great, even.” Arthur shoved the last of his breakfast in his mouth and swallowed harshly. “I know I don’t always treat you as you deserve. You do everything for me and you’re a true friend, I just want you to know how much I appreciate all that you do.” 

Arthur stood abruptly and stepped into Merlin’s space again.

“No, see this,” Merlin said, gesturing to the lack of space between him and the prince. “This is not normal. You are not being normal. And you  _ appreciating _ me, is not normal.”

“I always appreciate you, I just never say it.”

“Well, forgive me for not believing you when you’re clearly under an enchantment!” Merlin shouted frantically, leaving to go finish his morning chores and hopefully forget the encounter.

He knew he should be with Arthur, but he couldn’t handle it. Arthur could throw things at him, call him names and shout at him, but a nice Arthur? An appreciative, and kind, Arthur? No. Just no.

The next two days were much the same. Merlin would spend as little time with Arthur as possible and each time they were together, the prince would do something weird like thank him or crowd his space, or just genuinely be kind. 

Gaius believed Merlin and understood it was out of character, but didn’t think it had anything to do with the sorcery.

“What else could it be, Gaius?” Merlin eventually shouted at him in frustration.

“Merlin, for such a bright and powerful young man, you are an absolute halfwit sometimes.” Gaius had left promptly after that, providing Merlin with no answers or useful information.

After a particularly rough encounter with Arthur, Merlin had decided to ask some of Arthur’s other trusted friends if they had noticed anything weird.

“Weird, how?” Leon had asked. Sir Leon was Arthur’s most loyal knight and was definitely the person Arthur spent the most time with, besides Merlin.

“Like he gets too close to you or is being oddly nice?”

“Merlin, what is this about?” Leon suddenly looked very uncomfortable. 

“Ever since the sorceress attacked the other night, Arthur keeps thanking me and smiling at me, and suddenly he has no respect for personal boundaries. I think he’s enchanted, but no one will believe me!” 

Leon just looked at him pitifully. 

“You think Arthur’s cursed because he thanked you?”

“And he wants to be close to me!” Merlin shouted, realising how ridiculous and whiney he sounded, but choosing to ignore it.

“Right. Have you spoken to him about this?” Leon said resisting the laughter bubbling in his chest. If he wasn’t a knight and a genuinely good person most of the time, Merlin would have considered hitting him.

“I tried, but he swears he’s fine. Will you just tell me if you’ve noticed him acting strange at all?”

“No, I’m sorry, Merlin. Apparently it’s just you he wants to be close to.”

Merlin huffed and stormed off. What was wrong with everyone? Why weren’t they noticing how odd Arthur was acting?

Merlin started doing research on his own, but with no help from Gaius, trying to find curses and spells that could force someone to be… nice, really wasn’t going well.

By day three Merlin had realised that Arthur hadn’t given him an order since before the attack. 

Merlin continued with his daily chores, keeping Arthur’s armor clean, regularly doing laundry, shining his boots, feeding his horses, emptying the chamberpot, but Arthur hadn’t really told him what to do in days. 

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else you need, sire?” Merlin bothered to ask after serving Arthur lunch.

Arthur never passed up an opportunity to give Merlin more work. 

“Honestly, you seem to have everything handled just fine, Merlin.” 

“Oh, come on!” Merlin screamed, slamming the water jug down on the table. “Enough is enough, Arthur. Can’t you see that something is wrong? I basically just asked for more chores and you didn’t even tell me to go muck out the horses!”

“I’d rather you stay here with me than go down to the stables.” Arthur said bluntly, shocking Merlin into silence again as he reminded himself over and over that it was just the enchantment. “I mean, I have noticed that you’re avoiding me, but we’ll work through it. We always do.”

Arthur continued eating his stew, seemingly unbothered by how crazy he sounded.

“Arthur, please. Do you hear yourself? This isn’t like you!” Merlin began pleading, realising for the first time how much it was upsetting him not to have his best friend around.

The prince pushed his bowl back and turned to face Merlin, letting out a deep breath.

“Merlin, maybe I’m just done pretending. I’m tired of holding my tongue around the people I care about most, I’m tired of not being totally honest with you.” 

And it clicked. Just like that. 

Merlin ran from the room as fast as his feet would carry him, pulling Arthur along with him. He had to find Gaius, he had to figure out how to reverse this before someone else noticed.

An honesty curse, while not inherently evil, could force Arthur to expose things against his will. If one of Camelot’s enemies found out then they were done for.

“An honesty curse? Are you sure?” Gaius asked, carefully examining Arthur again.

“Yes, Gaius. He said it himself just before. And I heard the woman say she was tired of Arthur holding his tongue and that he had to speak his mind. It all makes sense!” 

“I just don’t want to lie to you anymore.” Arthur shrugged, not taking his eyes off Merlin.

“Shut up.” Merlin snapped.

“Merlin, you can’t say–” Merlin’s hand slapped down over Arthur’s mouth.

“Shhhh, it’s for your own good. Trust me.”

“I do.” Arthur mumbled through Merlin’s fingers.

Gaius watched the interaction carefully, shaking his head at the pair’s stupidity. 

“Merlin, I don’t think it’s an honesty curse.” The boy was truly clueless sometimes. “No one else has noticed anything weird about Arthur. He’s not being overly honest or forthcoming to anyone but you.”

“It’s true.” Arthur pulled Merlin’s hand off his face. “I’ve lied to my father tons since the attack happened. I even lied to him  _ about _ the attack.”

Gaius’ eyes lit up, he crossed the room as swiftly as he could manage to consult his books. Not that either of the boys noticed.

“Then why are you being like this with me? This isn’t normal!”

“I just can’t lie to you! I’m sick of pretending!”

“Yeah, you said that before! Sick of pretending what? I know everything about you, I’m with you all day every day. What could you possibly be hiding from me.” Merlin was desperate to understand. These past few days had sucked the life out of him, he felt more helpless and scared than ever before. He was losing his best friend and he didn’t know how to stop it.

“Were you ever going to tell me about your magic?” 

The world froze.

Merlin could hear his blood rushing, his heart pounding heavily, his breath speeding up. 

He staggered back into a table, knocking over some of Gaius’ potions. Merlin knew he had moved away from the prince, but somehow all he could see was Arthur’s face.

Something was grabbing him. He felt hands on his side and his cheek, this was it. Arthur was going to arrest him, execute him, he hated him.

Still, all Merlin could see was Arthur’s blue eyes and pink lips moving. His lips were moving? Was there any sound coming out?

“Merlin! Merlin, listen to me. It’s okay, I promise. I can’t lie, remember, I’m not mad about your magic and I won’t tell anyone, I swear. Come on, Merlin. Come back to me, focus on my voice, it’ll be okay.” The pounding in Merlin’s ears slowly faded and the feeling came back to his shaking hands.

“Arthur?” Merlin whimpered, letting his prince embrace him.

“It’s going to be okay. I’ve known for a long time. I’ll protect you, I promise.” Arthur kept whispering, over and over. “I wanted you to tell me. I wanted you to trust me with it.”

Once Merlin’s breath had stabilized, he pushed Arthur away from him.

“You have a lot of explaining to do.” 

“Me?” Arthur scoffed. “You’re the moron who decided to practise magic in Camelot.”

Gaius, who the pair had forgotten was in the room, shouted then and ran back over to the prince and his manservant, slamming a book down in front of them.

“It is an honesty curse!” He jabbed at the book as though the odd language written there held all the answers. 

“So, I was right?” Merlin asked, taking a closer look at the text, appreciative of any opportunity to avoid the discussion he and Arthur were about to have.

“Not entirely. It’s very selective, it only causes the person enchanted to  _ want _ to be more forthcoming with the person, or people, they care about most.” 

“But I only want to be honest with Merlin.” Gaius raised one eyebrow at Arthur disapprovingly.  _ Put two and two together you fool _ , the expression clearly said.

“It says the curse will be lifted when the subject speaks their truth.” Merlin read, clearly missing Arthur and Gaius’ exchange. “That’s what the sorceress told me, this must be it.”

Merlin’s gaze lifted off the page and back to Arthur as he recalled everything the woman had said.

“I think she wanted Arthur to stand up to Uther, she wanted to hurry along Arthur’s destiny by forcing him to argue with the king.” Merlin was pleased with himself for finally understanding. “So we just go to Uther, and Arthur and him can have a nice heart to heart and it’ll be done with.”

“You really are an idiot, Merlin.” Arthur threw his hands in the air. “I don’t want to tell my father anything. The witch got it wrong!”

The proud expression fell from Merlin’s face and he looked to Gaius for help but the physician merely raised his hands in defeat.

“I’ll give you two some space to talk. I think Arthur has got it from here.” Gaius left his chambers quickly, leaving Merlin stuttering after him.

The prince sat down on a nearby stool, letting his head rest in his hands. He had been resisting the growing urge to let it out for days. He knew something was wrong, but admitting he was cursed would mean admitting what he was hiding, and he hadn’t been ready.

“It wasn’t meant to happen like this.” He let out softly, bringing Merlin’s attention back to him.

The dark haired boy cast his eyes down. He wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but he kept reminding himself that Arthur knew his secret and hadn’t killed him yet, so it couldn’t be that bad.

“You know, I found out about your magic about a year ago, when that druid girl escaped from the bounty hunter.” Merlin gave a shuttered gasp.  _ Freya _ . “You had been acting so strange, and that vile man was suspicious of you. I followed you into the tunnels and I saw you with her.”

Arthur’s eyes wouldn’t leave the floor, but Merlin wanted nothing more than to see them. He wanted to explain everything, but the words were stuck in his throat.

“I watched you do magic for her. I heard you talk of leaving, of running away together. I was so hurt that you couldn’t trust me as you trusted her, that you would leave me. And then I killed her.” His voice broke, hands running through his hair, tugging harshly at his blonde strands. “I didn’t mean to, I swear it, and I can’t lie to you now. I regretted it the moment my sword struck the beast and I realised that I would have hurt the girl too. But she was killing people and I didn’t know what else I could do.”

Merlin couldn’t comprehend what Arthur was saying. He’d never heard his prince, his friend, be so honest. Normally they both covered anything real with jokes and insults, but there was no running from it now. 

“Arthur? It’s okay, I believe you.” He knelt in front of his friend, trying to put himself in his line of sight. “Freya is free now. She’s– well, she’s the Lady of the Lake, and she doesn’t blame you. She’s even helped save Camelot since she died.”

Arthur’s eyes finally rose off the floor and fell on Merlin’s.

“And you? Do you blame me?” 

“No, I could never blame you.” Merlin smiled, as painful as it was to talk about this, he felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “Is that it then? Is that your big truth that breaks the curse?”

Arthur laughed. Laughing was good. Laughing was normal for them.

“How are you so impossibly dense?” Insulting was normal too, but there was something else there. “How have you not been caught? How has my father not killed you? I mean it’s painfully obvious, I think the whole of Camelot knows, except you.”

“The whole of Camelot knows I have magic?”

“No! The whole of Camelot knows that I–” Arthur cut himself off, fighting the little voice in his head telling him to shout it out. He recognized it now, that was the enchantment trying to force the truth out of him, but he wanted to do this on his own terms. “The whole of Camelot knows ‘my big truth’ or whatever you want to call it.”

“Well, then it’s not much of a secret is it.” Merlin tried to lighten the mood.

“Well, it is when the only person that matters is too dumb to see it.”

Merlin’s face dropped. No more silly smile, no more jokes. Arthur had to do this.

“Merlin– you have to know– I mean, you can’t not at this point–” Merlin shifted, still on his knees in front of Arthur. His hands fidgeted nervously and tongue flicked out across his lips.

After struggling to find the words, Arthur gave up. He reached out and cupped Merlin head at the nape of his neck, pulling his friend in until their lips collided.

It wasn’t a good first kiss, it was rough with too much pressure, but once Merlin realised what was happening and responded it was like Arthur could feel the magic beneath his friend’s skin explode.

For a few blissful seconds, neither of them felt anything except pure happiness.

Then Merlin’s hands came up to Arthur’s chest and pushed, separating them from each other. 

“Merlin…” Arthur growled, trying to pull their swollen, red lips to meet again. But Merlin resisted with a huff and brought their foreheads together instead.

“Arthur, say it. You have to say it. I have to know this is real.” He ran his fingertips over Arthurs cheeks and lips as he spoke, trying everything to ground himself in the moment. 

“I love you, you absolute idiot.”

“I love you too, you supercilious clotpole.” Merlin laughed, letting tears spill over and run down his cheeks.

Arthur wiped them away with his thumb, smiling brighter than Merlin had ever seen.

“Don’t be such a girl, Merlin.” He kissed the man he loved on the cheek and pulled him into a tight hug. “It’s gone, the curse is gone, I can feel it.”

“And you call me dumb.” Merlin mumbled into Arthur’s shoulder. “You could have just told me from the start and avoided this whole thing.” 

“Well it didn’t help that you’re so stupid, Merlin. I mean everyone else figured it out a long time ago. Besides, I thought maybe you were still hung up on the druid girl, how was I supposed to know you would love me back?”

Merlin pulled away and grabbed Arthur’s face roughly. His voice heavy, knowing he’d never say anything more important in his life.

“Arthur, you are everything to me. I don’t just love you. You are my destiny, you are the reason I am on this earth, and I wouldn’t have it anyother way. You are my  _ King _ , and I would gladly die to protect you, but I would more happily live by your side for the rest of eternity. Don’t ever doubt that.”

~

When Gaius came back to his chambers a few hours later, he made sure to knock loudly before entering. He was pleased to discover the rooms empty and a note from Merlin, explaining he probably wouldn’t be back the next day, was left on the table.

  
As Gaius got back to work, he quietly wondered if the history books would ever tell the story of these quiet victories that helped bring peace and unity back to Albion. Or if the world would never truly know how  _ dimwitted _ the two most powerful people in the kingdom were.

**Author's Note:**

> So, the original idea was for Arthur to basically be drunk when he was around Merlin. I wanted him blurting out truths and acting really ridiculous and a little provocative. 
> 
> But the further I got into the story the more I realized that made no sense for the characters (also, I'm not funny and wouldn't even know how to begin writing that).
> 
> What I did like was this idea of Arthur staring longingly after Merlin and being so kind to him was weird for *Merlin*, but not for anyone else in the castle, because that's how Arthur always is, but just behind Merlin's back. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, it was fun to explore a bit of a different writing process :)


End file.
